1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector disconnection sensing mechanism of a switch connector or the like for switching a circuit by connecting or disconnecting the connector, wherein operation sensitivity at the disconnection of the connector is improved.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 7 is a longitudinally cross-sectional view of a conventional switch connector, which is disclosed in Japanese utility model application No. Heisei 3-84573.
The switch connector 1' comprises a slide female connector half 2' with a terminal 16, and a fixed male connector half 5' with a mated terminal 17. A resilient locking arm 12 and a locking projection 20 for preventing the slide connector half 2' from slipping off are formed on an outer wall 3' of the slide connector half 2'. Further, a locking wall 19 engaging a locking projection 18 of the locking arm 12, and a locking projection 21 engaging the locking projection 20 are formed on a housing 6' of the fixed connector half 5'. The connector half 5' is fixed to an electrical junction box or the like not shown at a mounting portion (22 in FIG. 1) of the outer wall of the housing 6'.
An inner wall 25 of a locking chamber of the slide connector half 2' slidably contacts a seal coating 24 on an outer wall 23 of terminal accommodating cavities of the fixed connector half 5' to connect the terminal 16 to the mated terminal 17 on the side of the circuit 26 and to connect the locking projection 18 of the locking arm 12 to the locking wall 19. When the circuit 26 is cut off, the slide connector half 2' is drawn with the locking arm 12 being deflected, and the projection 20 comes into contact with the projection 21 to prevent the slide connector half 2' from slipping off.
However, with the conventional construction described above, the slide connector half 2' should strongly be drawn out while depressing an operating portion 27 of the resilient locking arm 12 at the cutoff of the circuit. Therefore, it is difficult to sense the abutment between the projections 20 and 21 due to a strong friction resistance between the seal coating 24 and the inner wall 25 of the locking chamber. As a result, there is a fear of incomplete connection of the circuit 26, that is, an incomplete cutoff of the connector 1'.